American Indian College Fund Hosts an Open House and Opening Night of “Open Identities” a Printmaking Art Exhibition

The American Indian College Fund (the Fund) is hosting an open house, Friday, May 17, 2013, at 8333 Greenwood Blvd., Denver, CO. The event begins at 5:00 p.m. and ends at 7:00 p.m. The open house was initially envisioned by Fund President Cheryl Crazy Bull as an opportunity to visit with the Fund’s local supporters, Native community members, family, and friends. This evening is an excellent opportunity to share the work of the Fund and to celebrate our national impact on educational access for Native students attending tribal colleges across the United States.

To mark this special occasion, the Fund hosts this same evening, the opening night of an invited art exhibit entitled “Open Identities” by Native artist Cody Saint Arnold. The evening will include a welcome by Fund President Cheryl Crazy Bull, and a few words by Cody Saint Arnold contextualizing the works presented in this special exhibition. Guests will enjoy viewing the art, visiting with the Fund staff, listening to Native flute music, and tasting delicious Southwestern “Fresca” themed appetizers and beverages.

“Open Identities” by Cody Saint Arnold will be on display at the American Indian College Fund through September 2013. The American Indian College Fund plans to invite artists to show their work for the enjoyment of the Fund staff. Invited exhibits will be open to visitors on special occasions into the future. For more information about the art exhibits at the Fund, please contact Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, member of the art exhibit acquisition committee (tyazzie-mintz@collegefund.org).

It is an honor to welcome our local supporters, Native community members, family, and friends to join us for a special evening of art, music and light refreshments.

About the Artist

Cody St. Arnold

I am a printmaker from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am currently based in Boulder, Colorado. In my fifth year of study at CU Boulder, pursuing a BA in the Ethnic Studies program, I was forever turned to printmaking by a series of Silkscreen, Relief, and Intaglio classes presented by world-wide recognized printmaker and associate professor of Printmaking at CU-Boulder, Melanie Yazzie. In the presentation of her Navajo culture in her works, it opened my mind to how much in flux I carry my identity as a Jicarilla Apache/Keeweenaw Bay Ojibwe Indian and as a current U.S. citizen invested and living in our rapidly changing state of American culture. I wish to pursue many perspectives of philosophy that has carried me further through these seemingly troubled times for the Native American identity. Art has always had a transcendental purpose for human beings, as if to take what we have already and create a world of matter that makes sense to us and fills our souls with an impression. I try to understand what kind of impact from things like indie rock and psychedelia, Eurocentric academia, living in the white Northeast Heights of Albuquerque, and many other events have all shaped my perception of my life. Being a Native American challenges these notions further because it is knowledge and an inescapable mission to give respect to the generations of Indians who brought us here to this world in the first place. And to challenge the notion of being Native American is further accentuated by the fact that I didn’t grow up on a reservation. Where does one feel like one can belong with such a large quantity of knowledge and inherited responsibilities?The exhibit, “Open Identity” draws out issues of identity, belonging, cultural representation and notions of becoming. The exhibit presents the artist’s journey with earlier prints to current works responding to the notion of educational access and success.